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Retro Fusion is a 72 page full colour magazine dedicated to retro and homebrew gaming. The first two issues were published years ago but it has recently enjoyed a revival via a successful IndieGoGo project that we were happy to support. My printed issue arrived today and it’s a great read. Some of the features include:

Jon Hare talking about the ‘Over Use of Sci Fi’ in games

A detailed look back on the Alien films and the games associated with each episode

The Top 10 SCI FI Robots and Cyborgs within Film

The best of the SCI FI related games

From Screen to Toybox – a look at the most popular toys that have been spawned by movies

Plok – a look back at a forgotten Pickford Brother’s classis – includes interview with Ste Pickford

A brand new SCI FI game by Jonathan Cauldfield written especially for the issue with a background ‘epic’ story – the game is called Encyclopaedia Galactica.

We also took out a rather fetching half-page advert, so if you buy a copy look out for that

I love listening to the BitJam Podcast. It’s always full of great demoscene and game music, both old and new. But the other day they released podcast 136 which contains 18 tracks from the Immortal series of CDs. BitJam explain it best:

“The acclaimed “Immortal” project started to take shape in the mind of Portuguese game music composer Ruben Monteiro in 1997. The idea behind this project was (and still is) to release the greatest soundtracks from games released for the Commodore Amiga computer on CD – newly arranged and recorded in the studio, but not necessarily in a chart-compatible way. Instead, the “Immortal” producers aim to work with the original artists whenever possible: Chris Hülsbeck, Allister Brimble, Bjorn Lynne, Barry Leitch, Jason Page, Tim Wright and many others contributed exclusive tracks in the past. As of April 2011, four volumes have been released in the “Immortal” series, featuring music from classic games such as Shadow of the Beast, Turrican, Speedball 2, Pinball Dreams, Wing Commander, Alien Breed, Lemmings, or Cannon Fodder.”

“Immortal 4 enriches the world of computer game music, featuring remixes of the music from 35 Amiga games in newly arranged studio productions. BitFellas pays tribute to the fantastic Immortal project and presents a selection of fine music from the Immortal CDs in BitJam Podcast #136, including a previously unreleased track.”

What more can I say? Download and enjoy! And if you want to buy the Immortal 4 CD it’s on sale at Maz Sound along with the previous 3 CDs. It’s well worth it, the inlay and cover art is always beautiful. A lovely thing to actually own.

I blogged about the Silmarils collection being available for the PC a few months ago, and now DotEmu have opened their new online shop. It’s still in beta but you can browse their PC, iPhone and Online games. If you sign-up now you can grab a few games for free, but I believe this offer is limited for 10 days. They had Ishar 1, Beneath a Steel Sky and Drascula available for free download at the time of writing. The rest of the catalogue, including the brilliant Gobliiins games and the addictive Krypton Egg, are really cheap though, with single games costing only €2.90.

Update: DotEmu have confirmed which free games are available, and when. The line-up is as follows: Ishar 1 from April 26th – 27th, Nicky Boom April 28th – 29th, Metal Mutant April 30th – May 1st, Maya May 2nd – 3rd and Transarctiva May 4th – 5th.

I was really excited to receive another couple of books in The Spectrum Games Bible series today. It’s a series of 6 books that present screen shots and mini community written reviews of 1,200 Sinclair Spectrum games released between 1982 and now. Editted and compiled by Paul Johns and Michael Fraser these are fascinating reads.

I love just picking a book and opening it on a random page to see what retro gaming delight (or howler!) will greet me. The games are presented by year and alphabetical order, with a neat index at the back of each should you wish to locate something specific.

Game reviews are often quite short, but for some span a page or two. Nearly all of them have screen shots which really help to jog the old grey matter. As the reviews are written by community members they vary in quality. Some are a little too introspective, focusing on the life story behind that particular game for the reviewer, rather than the game itself. But overall they are still a great read. I’d strongly recommend them to anyone who has an interest in retro gaming, or Flash game development today – as they are a gold mine of ideas and concepts.

The books vary in price as they are printed and delivered by lulu.com, so the higher the page count, the more it costs. The print quality is excellent and the colour covers a nice touch. Layout is clean and clear and I had no printing issues with any of them. If you are extremely flush with cash then you can buy full-colour editions, which have all screen shots in full colour internally. The cost of these editions ranges from between £40 and £70, with postage on-top! However the ones I (and I dare-say most people) own are the colour cover with black and white internal pages. They are a far more reasonable £9 to £10.